Alexis asks for help
by grape-boy
Summary: Alexis goes down to the precinct looking to ask her Dad/Beckett for some relationship (break-up) advice about Pi. They're out on a case, but Espo and Ryan are there. One-shot.


The lift doors opened and Alexis stepped out into the precinct. She took a few steps, looking around for any sign of her father or Beckett. She bit her lip nervously.  
"Hey," she said as Esposito walked past "D'you know if my Dad's around?"

"Nah," Espo said "He and Beckett are out chasing up a lead, I don't know when they'll be back."  
"Is it OK if I wait here for them?"  
"Yeah, sure, but, like I said, I dunno when they're gonna get back."

Alexis nodded and smiled as Esposito walked away to his desk. She drew a chair from one of the empty workstations and put it by Beckett's desk, next to the seat that her father used. She sat and twiddled her thumbs.

Ryan was watching her from his desk.  
"What does she want?" he asked as Espo took his seat behind him.  
"To talk to her Dad, she said."  
"What about?"  
Esposito shrugged.  
"I dunno, she didn't say. But whatever it is it must be fairly important, I told her we didn't know when Castle and Beckett would be back."

Ryan scrunched up the side of his face, looking concerned.  
"Do you think," he said "Do you think we should go over there, see how she is?"  
"Why?"  
"I dunno, we might be able to help. She can talk to us, right?"

Esposito looked at his partner.  
"This baby's really got you thinking like a Dad, hasn't it?"  
Ryan shrugged and smiled.  
"OK," Esposito said "But don't be weird."  
"Weird, what do you mean weird?"  
"You know what I mean."

They got up and walked over to where Alexis was sitting - Esposito pulled out Beckett's chair and sat on it backwards, Ryan perched himself on the edge of the desk. Esposito shot a look at him, 'What're you doing?'. 'What?', Ryan shot him a look back. 'I told you not to be weird', 'I'm not being weird', 'You're being weird', 'Whatever'.

"Hey," Ryan said.  
"Hey," said Alexis. There was a small awkward silence.  
"So," Ryan said "You OK?"  
"Yeah," Alexis said, a little quickly "Yeah."  
"You know you can talk to us, right?" Esposito said "You know, if anything's wrong or anything."

Alexis nodded.  
"So…" Ryan said "Is… anything wrong?"  
"No," Alexis said "Well," she turned to look at them both "Yes. Kind of."  
The two detectives waited for her to continue, then glanced at each other when it seemed like she wasn't going to. Eventually, she did.

"It's Pi," she said.  
"Pie?" Ryan said. Esposito looked confused.  
"Oh, Pi!" Esposito said. Ryan looked at him "Yeah, you know, Pi. The, what is he, the freaky vegetarian type thing."  
"Fruitarian," Alexis said, looking down. Esposito thought she sounded a little embarrassed.

"What about Pi?" Ryan asked.  
"It's just… Have you ever felt… Do you ever feel…"  
Esposito glanced over at Ryan.  
He could tell from the other detective's look that he was thinking the same as him, but they let Alexis go on.

"Have you ever felt," she was saying "And this sounds horrible but, and maybe it's just me, and I hope it's not _too_ horrible, but have you ever felt like… you _regret_ going out with someone?"  
Ryan glanced at Esposito, 'You go first on this one'.

"Yeah," Espo said "Loads of times. Sometimes you think it was the right thing, that they were a good fit for you, but then you get into it a bit more and you find out they're not."  
"Hell," Ryan said "I love her but if the hormones are getting to her and she's getting a weird craving or something I've regretted being with Jenny," he looked suddenly worried "But don't tell her that."

Alexis smiled for a few moments, then the smile grew weaker and died.  
"But what do you _do_?" she said "How do I know it's not just a phase, or, or, that I'm imagining it, or that it's just that, I don't know, maybe I'm just scared of where we're going or that I don't _know_ where we're going?"

Esposito shrugged.  
"You don't," he said "You've got to think about it - and I know you will have done because that's who you are - but you can't overthink it. At the end of the day you've got to go with what you think you're heart's telling you."

Ryan looked down at her, biting gently at his bottom lip, feeling sorry for the girl.  
"If you feel like you're being mean on the guy then don't," he said "You've got to do what's right by you. And breaking things off now is kinder to him than stringing him along."

"Yeah," Espo said "And if you carry it on when you're not feeling the same as him then you might get dragged in and find it harder to break things off later. I was with this girl in high school, realised after a month it was a bad idea but didn't want to break up with her because I didn't want to be the bad guy. I stuck with her another couple of weeks and ended up not ending things for another five months just because it was never the right time."

"That's true," Ryan took up "I went out with this girl, we'd been going out a few months but it wasn't working. I broke it off in mid-January, and felt awful, but then there was Valentines Day and her birthday coming up - and it's doubly hard breaking up around those - and then a couple of weeks after that her Dad died; I could have ended up with her for months after that, if I'd been waiting for the right time.

"But as it was, I met this new girl just after the other girl's birthday. I went out with her a few times and then, after a while, we're having a baby together."  
"Jenny!" Alexis said. Ryan nodded, grinning widely.  
"Yup," he said "So if I'd waited for 'the right time', which doesn't exist, to break up with the other girl then I might never have met Jenny."

Alexis smiled.  
"Thanks guys," she said. She got up from her seat; Ryan thought she looked much less nervous than when she had first arrived.  
"You're not going to wait for your Dad?" Espo said.  
"No," Alexis said "I can speak to him some other time. Thank you, guys, though. You've helped a lot."

The detectives smiled.  
"We're happy to help," Ryan said "And we're always here if you need anything."  
Alexis smiled and nodded, before turning and walking out of the precinct.

Ryan and Esposito watched her leave.  
"I hope she comes to a decision," Ryan said.  
"Yeah," Espo said, getting up to walk back to his desk "Although I don't know what she sees in him. A 'fruitarian', and he's called Pi for God's sake. She deserves better."  
Ryan smiled as he sat down and started on some paperwork.  
"Now who's thinking like a Dad?" he said.


End file.
